| Water striders |
Water Strider Aquarius remigis | | Scientific classification | | | | Genera | | Aquarius
Gerris
Halobates
Limnogonus
Limnoporus
Metrobates
Neogerris
Rheumatobates
Trepobates Water strider, Gerris remigis This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ...
Animalia redirects here. ...
Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - spiders,scorpions, etc. ...
Orders See taxonomy Insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species—more than all other animal groups combined. ...
Suborders Archaeorrhyncha Clypeorrhyncha Prosorrhyncha Sternorrhyncha Hemiptera is a large, cosmopolitan order of insects, comprising some 67,500 known species in three suborders. ...
Infraorders Enicocephalomorpha Dipsocoromorpha Gerromorpha Nepomorpha Leptopodomorpha Cimicomorpha Pentatomomorpha Heteroptera is a group of about 40,000 species of insects (also called true bugs) in the order Hemiptera. ...
William Elford Leach FRS (February 2, 1790 - August 26, 1836) was an English zoologist and marine biologist. ...
Genera Aquarius Gerris Halobates Limnogonus Limnoporus Metrobates Neogerris Rheumatobates Trepobates The water strider, also known as the Jesus bug, pond skater, skater, skimmer, water scooter, water skater, water skeeter, water skimmer, water skipper, or water spider, is any of a number of predatory insects in the family Gerridae (Leach, 1815...
| The water strider, also known as the Magic bug, pond skater, skater, skimmer, water scooter, water skater, water skeeter, water skimmer, water skipper, or water spider, is any of a number of predatory insects in the family Gerridae (Leach, 1815) which rely on surface tension to walk on top of water. They live on the surface of ponds, slow streams, marshes, and other quiet waters. They can move very quickly, up to 1.5 m/s, on the surface of water. This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ...
Orders See taxonomy Insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species—more than all other animal groups combined. ...
Water striders Categories: Animal stubs | Insects ...
William Elford Leach FRS (February 2, 1790 - August 26, 1836) was an English zoologist and marine biologist. ...
In physics, surface tension is an effect within the surface layer of a liquid that causes that layer to behave as an elastic sheet. ...
Impact of a drop of water Water is a chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life. ...
Aquarius remigis (formerly known as Gerris remigis, where the Gerris genus is from Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794) is one of the species in Gerridae known as a water strider. Johann Christian Fabricius. ...
1794 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Method of propulsion of a water strider
Animals such as water striders that live on the surface of water need to push something backwards to generate a reaction force (that is, Newton's third law of motion).
It was originally thought that water striders transferred momentum to the water by the creation of capillary waves on the surface. However, biophysicist Mark Denny showed that to do this, some object must move faster than about 0.25 m/s—far faster than a water strider can move its legs. This apparent contradiction is known as Denny's paradox. In classical mechanics, momentum (pl. ...
A capillary wave is a wave travelling along a meniscus, whose dynamics are dominated by the effects of surface tension. ...
Mark W. Denny (b. ...
In the study of animal locomotion, Dennys paradox refers to the apparent impossibility of surface-dwelling animals such as the water strider generating enough propulsive force to move. ...
Water striders beat Denny's paradox by generating not capillary waves but hemispherical vortices in the water. These vortices carry sufficient backwards momentum to propel the animal forwards. Vortex created by the passage of an aircraft wing, revealed by coloured smoke A vortex (pl. ...
In a series of experiments, mathematician David L. Hu and coworkers showed that during the rowing stroke, water striders drive their middle legs backwards without penetrating the surface, and can attain speeds of up to 1.5 m/s. Leonhard Euler is considered by many to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is the person whose primary area of study and research is the field of mathematics. ...
Besides skating on the surface of water, adult water striders can also use wings (e.g. to fly to another body of water).
Nature of the hydrophobic legs of a water strider
Water striders using water surface tension when mating. Water striders can stand effortlessly on water due to their non-wetting legs. Writing in Nature, biophysicists Xuefeng Gao and Lei Jiang show that the water resistance of the legs is due to the "special hierarchical structure of the legs, which are covered by large numbers of oriented tiny hairs (microsetae) with fine nanogrooves". They go on to demonstrate that this physical structure is more important than the chemical properties of the wax coating of the legs. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1227x1023, 93 KB) Water striders using water surface tension when matting. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1227x1023, 93 KB) Water striders using water surface tension when matting. ...
An insect leg The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. ...
Nature is one of the most prominent scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ...
Biophysics (also biological physics) is an interdisciplinary science that applies the theories and methods of physics, to questions of biology. ...
A strand of human hair under magnification Hair is also the name of a musical, see respective articles for the stage production and the movie. ...
candle wax This page is about the substance. ...
Gao and Jiang calculate the maximal supporting force of a single leg to be is 1.52 millinewtons (152 dynes or 0.011 poundal), which is about 15 times the total body weight of the insect. This shows that the surface of the leg is strikingly water repellent. The newton (symbol: N) is the SI unit of force. ...
In physics, the dyne is a unit of force specified in the centimetre-gram-second (cgs) system of units, symbol dyn. One dyne is equal to exactly 10-5 newtons. ...
The poundal is a non-SI unit of force. ...
For comparison, Gao and Jiang made a hydrophobic 'leg' from a smooth quartz fibre that was similar in shape and size to a strider's leg. Its surface was coated with a thin layer of heptadecafluorodecyltrimethoxysilane (FAS-17), whose contact angle with water is 109°. However, this artificial leg supported a force of only 0.19 mN (19 dyn or 0.0014 pdl): this would be just about enough to support the strider at rest, but not to enable it to dart around rapidly on the surface. In chemistry, hydrophobic or lipophilic species, or hydrophobes, tend to be electrically neutral and nonpolar, and thus prefer other neutral and nonpolar solvents or molecular environments. ...
Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earths continental crust. ...
For the meaning of fiber in nutrition, see dietary fiber. ...
Image from a video contact angle device. ...
Impact of a drop of water Water is a chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life. ...
Gao and Jiang went on to calculate that the contact angle with water on a real strider's leg would be greater than 150° (and described this using the neologism 'superhydrophobic') and, using a sessile water-drop showed that the contact angle of the insect's legs with water was 167.6° ± 4.4°. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (636x738, 53 KB) Gerris sp or Aquarius phto from Jeffdelonge Vellefrey et Vellefrange (France) Avril 2005 File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Water strider ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (636x738, 53 KB) Gerris sp or Aquarius phto from Jeffdelonge Vellefrey et Vellefrange (France) Avril 2005 File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Water strider ...
A neologism (Greek νεολογισμός [neologismos], from νÎος [neos] new + λόγος [logos] word, speech, discourse + suffix -ισμός [-ismos] -ism) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into hydrophobe. ...
They went on to infer that the observed superhydrophobicity was due to microstructures on the legs and, using a scanning electron microscope, showed that the legs were covered in many needle shaped setae, with diameters ranging from 3 micrometres down to a few hundred nanometres. Most of the setae were about 50 micrometres long and were at an angle of about 20° from the surface of leg. Each microseta also had nanoscale grooves, contributing to the hierarchical structure of the leg. SEM Cambridge S150 at Geological Institute, University Kiel, 1980 SEM opened sample chamber The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a type of electron microscope capable of producing high resolution images of a sample surface. ...
A seta is a stiff hair, bristle, or bristle-like process or part of an organism. ...
A micrometre (American spelling: micrometer, symbol µm) is an SI unit of length equal to one millionth of a metre, or about a tenth of the size of a droplet of mist or fog. ...
A nanometre (American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm) is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand-millionth of a metre, which is the current SI base unit of length. ...
Gao and Jiang used Cassie's law to show that air is trapped in spaces in the microsetae and nanogrooves, forming a cushion at the leg–water interface. This cushion prevents the legs from being wetted. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...
Layers of Atmosphere (NOAA) Air redirects here. ...
See also Image File history File links Commons-logo. ...
Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...
Genera Microvelia Velia Rhagovelia Veliidae is a family of predatory insects in the suborder Heteroptera. ...
Note: This article title may be easily confused with Walk on Water . ...
References - Gao X, Jiang L (2004). "Biophysics: water-repellent legs of water striders". Nature 432 (7013): 36. PMID 15525973.
Nature is one of the most prominent scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ...
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